CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny (Audio)

Hunting is considered a key human adaptation and is thought to have influenced our anatomy, physiology and behavior over time. This symposium explores the evidence pertaining to the origins of hominin hunting. Ian Gilby, Arizona State University, argues that the considerable variation in predation frequency within and between chimpanzee social groups is driven by the energetic costs and physical risks that hunting entails. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 33572]

Hunting is considered a key human adaptation and is thought to have influenced our anatomy, physiology and behavior over time. This symposium explores the evidence pertaining to the origins of hominin hunting. The idea that women have evolved to be plant gatherers and men hunters has dominated evolutionary thinking and the popular imagination for decades. Australia is one of the places that challenges our understanding of who hunts and why. Across Australia prehistorically, women were active hunters, with a primary focus on the hand-capture of small to medium sized animals. Rebecca Bliege Bird, Pennsylvania State University. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 33571]

Hunting is considered a key human adaptation and is thought to have influenced our anatomy, physiology and behavior over time. This symposium explores the evidence pertaining to the origins of hominin hunting. While the specific role that meat might have played in human evolution remains hotly contested – it certainly changed the playing field for our earliest ancestors. Alyssa Crittenden, UNLV, addresses the nutritional significance of meat and discuss how, during the course of human evolution, red meat has been transformed from a blessing to a potential curse. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 33570]

Welcome and opening remarks for the CARTA symposium: The Role of Hunting in Anthropogeny. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 33569]

Hunting is considered a key human adaptation and is thought to have influenced our anatomy, physiology and behavior over time. This symposium explores the evidence pertaining to the origins of hominin hunting. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 33567]

Christina Warinner (Univ of Oklahoma) explains how emerging ancient dental calculus research is changing the way we investigate the human past and how this is leading to a deeper understanding of human biology and evolution. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 30976]

Exploring the use of primate stem cell systems to understand the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying species differences in cerebral cortex development. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 32970]

Ruslan Medzhitov (Yale School of Medicine) explains in this talk that the intricate connection between homeostasis and inflammation is rooted in underlying principles of control circuits. He then describes these principles and their implications for human diseases. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Health and Medicine] [Science] [Show ID: 31606]

This presentation provides a cellular and molecular analysis of comparative neural development in closely related hominids, which opens new avenues for understanding the differences in the neural underpinnings of cognition and neurological disease susceptibility between species. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 32969]

New insights into the significance of the emergence of a human-specific gene on brain evolution. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 32975]

Huxley and Darwin were among the first to appreciate the close evolutionary relationship of humans and other African great apes but also to ponder what genetic changes might make us human. Initial comparisons of human and chimpanzee genes, showed little difference (>99% identical) despite the numerous adaptations that must have occurred on the human lineage. Recent studies of more complex regions of our genome have revealed hotspots of dramatic evolutionary change. Within these regions are hundreds of new duplicate genes, several of which appear to be important in human-specific neuroanatomical adaptations. Paradoxically, this genetic complexity has led to mutations causing childhood diseases suggesting that human-specific genes and increased disease burden are tightly linked. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 32976]

Simon Fisher gives a fascinating account of how an irregularity in one single base of DNA leads to a rare and severe inherited language deficit, and how this finding helps reveal aspects of the evolutionary history of the human capacity for language. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 32441]

A fascinating account of people who in most every sense are very ordinary, but who have extraordinary memory. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 32442]

John Marzluff explores the reactions of American Crows to death among their flock, and the different motivations which may exist for the behaviors. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 32050]

UC San Francisco's Arnold Kriegstein addresses whether the Zika virus could someday be used to kill cancerous brain cells. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Health and Medicine] [Science] [Show ID: 32986]

In this talk, Sriram Sankararaman (UCLA) describes methods that enable us to map the locations of archaic ancestry in present-day humans. He then shows how the applications of these methods helps to understand the impact of Neandertal and Denisovan ancestry in present-day humans. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 30975]

Dora Biro explores reactions to death among our closest evolutionary relatives, the Chimpanzee, as well shares insights about reactions among other mammals, and how these observations may provide a lens with which to understand the evolution of death related psychology and behavior among humans. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 32049]

The way cells differentiate to eventually form the human brain and all the unique connections that make us human is ultimately the result of processes forged in evolution. Three experts share their investigations into characteristics of the human genome and its changes throughout evolution that make us human. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 32928]

Concluding remarks and question and answer session for the symposium: Cellular and Molecular Explorations of Anthropogeny. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 32978]

Welcome and introductory remarks to the symposium: Cellular and Molecular Explorations of Anthropogeny Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 32977]

The human brain is one of, if not the most important factor that distinguishes our species from all others. Three experts explore the use of stem cells in understanding the primate brain, genes that guided the evolution of the human brain, and the features that enabled the expansion of human neural characteristics. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 32927]

The Salk Institute's Rusty Gage and University of Washington's Evan Eichler explore the mechanisms and evolutionary pathways that have differentiated human neural development and allowed for the emergence of genes found only in humans. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 32926]

Exploring the life of musical savant Derek Paravicini, severely developmentally disabled from complications at birth, and how understanding his condition provides evidence for the existence of musical intelligence and the roots of creativity in the human mind. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 32446]

Katie Hinde (Arizona State Univ) reveals in this talk that milk varies across species, populations, individuals, and across time. She contends, therefore, that decoding mother's milk is necessary to enhance precision medicine for the most fragile infants and children in neonatal and pediatric intensive care units. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Health and Medicine] [Science] [Show ID: 31603]

Karen Berman of the National Institutes of Health explores how studying Williams Syndrome is revealing biological mechanisms that confer human variability. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 32440]

Imagine hearing colors and seeing sounds. Jamie Ward explores the world of synaesthesia where people possess extraordinary perceptions. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 32810]

The human mind is one of the features that makes our species unusual, and any narrative of our origins must include explanations for how our mental facilities were generated by genetic and cultural evolutionary processes. Comparative studies with the minds of other species and direct studies of how the typical human brain creates the mind are valuable approaches. However, many useful clues can also be gleaned from studying extraordinary variations of the human mind. This Symposium brings together experts who have pursued in-depth explorations of some of these variations. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 32438]

The human mind is one of the features that makes our species unusual, and any narrative of our origins must include explanations for how our mental facilities were generated by genetic and cultural evolutionary processes. Comparative studies with the minds of other species and direct studies of how the typical human brain creates the mind are valuable approaches. However, many useful clues can also be gleaned from studying extraordinary variations of the human mind. This Symposium brings together experts who have pursued in-depth explorations of some of these variations. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 32437]

Questions and answer session for the Extraordinary Variations of the Human Mind symposium. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 32448]

The human mind is one of the features that makes our species unusual, and any narrative of our origins must include explanations for how our mental facilities were generated by genetic and cultural evolutionary processes. Comparative studies with the minds of other species and direct studies of how the typical human brain creates the mind are valuable approaches. However, many useful clues can also be gleaned from studying extraordinary variations of the human mind. This Symposium brings together experts who have pursued in-depth explorations of some of these variations. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 32436]

Introduction to the Extraordinary Variations of the Human Mind symposium. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 32449]

UCLA's Daniel Geschwind explores how cognitive abilities - both extraordinary and those considered disabilities are related as part of the continuum of human behavior enabled by the evolutionary history of the human brain. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 32439]

In this talk, Ajit Varki (UC San Diego) offers some surprising examples of common human diseases that appear to be either absent in our closest living evolutionary cousins (the so-called "great apes"), or manifest in a rather modified form. Given the close genetic similarity of all of these species, he contends that it is worth investigating these differences, with the goal of better understanding the pathological processes involved. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 31604]

Colin Renfrew provides insight into the emergence of notions of immortality by looking at the archaeology of burials from long before the advent of agriculture through the creation of state societies and deities. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 32054]

Nicholas Humphrey gives a sobering look at the uniquely human trait of suicide, its alarming prevalence, and what this means to human biological fitness. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 32057]

In this talk, Cynthia Beall (Case Western Reserve Univ) describes different patterns of adaptive biological characteristics among high-altitude native populations and the accumulating evidence explaining why and how those different responses came about. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 31607]

Ajit Varki explores the human capacity for denial of reality and how that has shaped our evolution; Sheldon Solomon different philosophies surrounding mortality; and Nicholas Humphrey provides a comprehensive look at the motivations for, prevalence of and reactions to the uniquely human act for suicide. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 32048]

Joseph LeDoux explores the physiological distinctions between human response to fear and anxiety and how that can inform our understanding of behaviors and concepts associated with death and mortality; Colin Renfrew explores representations of death and immortality across time and cultures as a lens with which we can understand different cultural responses to mortality and Rita Astuti examines rituals surrounding death as ways to unite communities and affirm kinship and identity within societies. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 32047]

While evidence of atherosclerosis in both ancient and contemporary preindustrial humans exists, Michael Gurven (UC Santa Barbara) explains in this talk that there is less evidence that such pathology is clinically relevant. While there may not be a single smoking gun that explains a human heart-friendly lifestyle, he argues that the importance of a well-regulated immune system may be central. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 31605]

Oxford University's Dora Biro, University of Washington's John Marzluff and Harvard's Paul Harris explore reactions of other animals to death among their own kind, and what and how concepts of death develop in children. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 32046]

Matthias Meyer (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology) discusses the technical difficulties one faces when working with poorly preserved ancient material and the insights this work provides into human evolution in the Middle Pleistocene (e.g., the 400,000 year-old hominin remains from a cave site in Northern Spain). Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 30977]

Harvard’s Daniel Lieberman argues that genus Homo differs from other early hominins through an integrated suite of behaviors, collectively termed hunting and gathering, that emerged sometime between 3 and 2 mya. The emergent properties associated with hunting and gathering made possible increased access to energy. More energy, in turn, led to further selection for increased brain size, larger body size, and slower life histories, characteristics which are all associated with the genus Homo. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 30640]

Q&A, and Closing Remarks for Awareness of Death and Personal Mortality: Implications for Anthropogeny Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 32060]

Nicholas Humphrey provides opening remarks and context for the CARTA symposium: Awareness of Death and Personal Mortality: Implications for Anthropogeny Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 32059]

Ajit Varki gives an in-depth look at how and why the unique human characteristics or abilities of denying reality, self-deception, holding false beliefs, optimism bias and irrational risk-taking behavior; traits that should be evolutionarily maladaptive, developed, and are part of what makes us human. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 32053]

Fred Gage opens the CARTA symposium Awareness of Death and Personal Mortality: Implications for Anthropogeny. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 32058]

Sheldon Solomon explores how humans manage the terror of death, and the larger implications of this quest for immortality via death denial. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 32056]

In this presentation, Leslie Aiello explains that although the fossil record offers clues that cooperative childcare may have been present early in the evolution of genus Homo, the full human life history pattern including both extended childhood growth and development and longevity were much more recent evolutionary developments. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 30644]

Charles Nunn (Duke Univ) identifies selective pressures that may play a role in favoring shorter sleep in humans, and considers the consequences of these evolutionary changes for understanding human sleep disorders, health across the lifespan, and health disparities. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Health and Medicine] [Science] [Show ID: 31609]

"My mother's kin are not my father's kin." David Haig (Harvard Univ) explains in this talk that this asymmetry results in conflicting selective forces acting on genes of maternal and paternal origin revealed in the phenomenon of genomic imprinting. He provides several examples of disorders of imprinted gene expression. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 31602]